Farkle Review: Innovv Power Hub 1

Back in December of last year, the folks at innovv.com sent me an email asking if I'd like to do a review of their motorcycle power hub.

It took some time for me to respond as I had other mechanical/electrical matters on my motorcycle work queue.

After I responded and some exchanged emails later I was approved to do the review below.

Some Notes:  These folks are in China so it took a while to ship the review unit to me, in fact, I'd forgotten about the whole thing.  Still, I got it this Tuesday while I was out Glamping so I got around to installing it today on Fiona, my '99 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig with the Beemer engine.

The unit comes in a really nice box, reminds me of the box that iPhones come packaged in:

 What's inside....plenty of wire provided by the way,
I didn't even need to use the extra wire loops provided

 Yep, it appears all the power leads are "switched" power.

Meaning that whatever is being powered is only

getting electricity when the ignition is on.

 My original cabling mess

 Look how many positive cable connectors

crammed onto the positive terminal of the battery!

(I actually had to use a longer screw before!)

After installation, much cleaner.
All the above wiring is hidden when I
install the side panel cover onto the frame.
Note the yellow (switched power) wire which
I tapped onto the riding light's circuit so the
power hub is only supplying power when the
ignition is on.

Now the only things on the battery's positive 

terminal are the main power cable from the wiring

harness, the cable to the jump start node (easier to clamp onto)

and of course the main power lead for the Innovv power hub.

Very well built and put together hub I must say.  The instructions, printed on the side of the box are sparse but enough.  For instance, I had to re-read them to figure out the second black wire coming out of the unit (first one of course goes to the negative terminal on the battery) is to provide a ground for all your accessories using the power hub, very nice.

All the power leads are fused with 5A mini fuses.  My stuff uses 15A fuses so I replaced them as I used each lead.

The main fuse for the power hub is 40A, I left that as is.

Took the opportunity to do some wiring cleanup, and now have my aux lights, USB/Cigarette Power unit wired easily onto the power hub.  Both of course are switched power so no worries about someone turning them on by accident or mischief and draining the battery.

This still leaves me three more power leads for more farkle!

Easy installation, I look forward to testing this unit under upcoming Fall/Winter riding conditions and see how it holds up.

Sidecaring in Conzumel

Today, I woke early to get to the Commercial Ferry Station called Calica, just south of Playa del Carmen.  I'd reconned the route the evening before so it was a pretty smooth matter to line up the rig, go inside to pay and get one's "ticket".

Loading was a bit of a slow process and the motorcycles (two of us) were the last ones onboard, ending up tucked into corners.  It may have seemed slow due to us baking in the sun's heat while waiting our turn to board the ferry.

Still, we were finally onboard and an hour later we were in Conzumel, a small island across from Playa del Carmen.  There was a great breeze blowing on the top decks where I sat to take pictures.

 There was another ferry as we approached Cozumel's

Ferry Terminal, the ferry I was on is its twin.

Yes, a sad set of whiskers....unloading from

the ferry at Cozumel

I turned right onto the coastal main drag from the ferry terminal and slowly made my way out of the town of Cozumel to the open road south of it.  About 25 km later, I'd arrived at Punta Sur or South Point.  A park/nature preserve with beaches and crocs and iguanas.

The Royal Enfield 500cc Sidecar Rig I rented, which

I named Carmen for the trip.

Cool sign but apparently the crocs only come out at night,

can't say I blame them, it was hot!

 The only sizable Iguana I saw....perhaps three feet long

 Punta Sur's Lighthouse

One of the attendants took the picture of me

before I continued onwards to the end of the park

 The parking "attendant" guided me to this shady 

spot for "Carmen" to rest in while I walked around.

 Fresh Coconuts!

There were a few beaches but as I was not swimming, I bypassed them pretty quickly.  Soon I was headed out of the park:

 See, I don't just take pictures of my rig....

Continuing counter-clockwise around the island's rim road, there were multiple spots where one could stop and enjoy the beach/ocean views.

The narrow road closest to the water is restricted to folks on bicycles and scooters.
You can rent scooters on the island of course, as well as cars!

I stopped at a beachside series of vendor shacks and while I didn't buy anything, these skulls caught my eye.

The vendors were located at a spot with some neat rock formations that were being battered by the waves:

Soon, the road turns west towards Cozumel city.  Once I got to what I thought was the main drag, I turned north until the road ended in the Zona de Hoteles.  Not much there except the gate for a base for the Mexican Air Force:

As I had time before the 3PM arrival to the ferry, I had a late lunch near the ferry's terminal:

Still having time, I relaxed in the airconditioned (barely) lounge until such time I had to line up the rig and pay for the return ticket.  Loading was a sweltering affair again but at least this time my rig wasn't the last one boarded!  The had me park the rig between two rigs which worked out great for me.

I rested in the airconditioned (barely) lounge aboard the ferry for a few to recover from the heat, then it was time for pictures again.

 One last look at Cozumel

A shot of my ferry's sister ship, heading to Cozumel

as we headed to Calica.

Once I got back to Calica, getting off the ferry became a dusty ride out of the terminal area.  I tried riding to a beach site called Punta Esmeralda for sunset shots but the area proved crowded and besides, it was time to return the rig.

A great day of riding on a rental rig that proved quite fun to drive at times.  Sure, being a thumper, it was buzzy at the higher speeds but that's not what it's really designed to do is it?

I'd rented the rig from sidecaradventures.net, run by Fredrik Andersonn.  Very pleased with the overall experience provided by Fredrik and I would recommended his outfit to you if you're in the Mayan Riviera/Yucatan area and wish to do some three-wheeled explorations!

Note: Roughly 250 kilometers ridden.

Speedometer alternative for Fiona and Scarlett

Probably precipitated by the recent cold weather, the speedometer for Fiona had begun to exhibit the dreaded "winshield wiper" effect this week.

Attempts to lubricate the cable seemed to make it worse.  Now the speedometer pegs out at the far right limit of travel when moving at any speed.

So today I did a proof of concept, using the Ram mount I had onhand for the Garmin Nuvi GPS (which had been serving as a speedometer anyways for long trips) and my iPhone with a free speedometer app.

The test was successful, it worked great.  I'll postpone the taking apart of the wonky speedometer for now since the odometer and tripmeter appear to be working fine, it's just the needle that's OTL (Out To Lunch)

I've this more secure RAM mount coming from Amazon for the long term:

source: Amazon

Update on Scarlett: Randy, the URAL dealer up at Fort Collins has started looking at it, but it appears he's going to have to remove the engine from the rig.  That's all I have for now.

Update: Re-purposed an old iPhone4 to do same thing.  Works fine but not tested for extended time in sub-freezing temperatures yet.  iPhones tend to shutdown when on battery power when it gets cold enough even though there might still be life in the battery.

Review: The North45 Face Mask

In my continued search for ways to deal with how glasses and visors fog up on you while motorcycling in cold weather, I stumbled upon the North45 face mask for skiers using goggles.

Now, they don't market this product for motorcycle riders but I thought it might work; so I asked the manufacturer for a review face mask and he happily obliged.

Please see their website for full details and other pics on how the mask works for skiers wearing goggles.  LINK

Regular readers known, that I wear glasses and have been using a Skidoo Snowmobile Helmet with accompanying face mask when temperatures are below 20°F (-6°C).  It does the job 95% of the time but is very constrictive and sometimes uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time.

The Skidoo Helmet's rubber face mask

Link to posting describing the helmet

It could be because I probably need the next size larger helmet to allow more room for the face mask that comes with the helmet.  Also, due to my small/flat nose, I've had to add insulation materials where the top of the rubber face mask hugs my nose.

Now, with the North45 face mask, it being basically a scarf one puts on over one's head and around one's neck and lower face area, it doesn't take up a lot of room under a motorcycling helmet.

There's a magnet, to help lock it in place with goggles but in my case I just used it to center the scarf on my face.

The sides of the helmet help hold it in place once you position the face mask.  In my case, I positioned the top edge of the face mask as close to the lower edge of eyes as possible, using the lower edge of my glasses to try and hold it in place.

Once you things lined up, the face mask does pretty good at keeping your exhaled breath from rising up and fogging up your glasses while wearing a helmet, with the visor down.  The face mask you see, is really two parts (see the website for full details).  The part that goes over your nose, is open at the bottom, allowing most of the hot, moist air coming out of you to be directed downward.

Pros:

1.  Very comfortable to wear on face and even just as a neck scarf.  The merino wool material is not scratchy and is quite warm.

2.  Doesn't take up much room within the helmet, unlike the rubber "fighter pilot" type face mask that came with the helmet.  Much more comfortable!

Cons:

1.  I would say it does pretty well, perhaps 85-90% good job, in my case, at keeping my breath from fogging up my glasses.  If I let the top edge of the face mask slip much lower than the edge of my glasses, it doesn't do as well.

2.  I did, sometimes, have to crack the helmet visor open while stopped at lights and such to prevent fogging of my glasses.  Once I started moving again though, the glasses if fogged, would clear quickly.

3.  Unlike using the rubber face mask, any kind of physical exertion on my part resulted in fogging of my glasses, whether visor was up or down.  Of course, physical exertion while wearing the rubber face mask results in shortness of breath very fast.

Overall, I like this face mask a lot.  It provides as warm, if not better wind protection as the neck gator I usually wear and the material it's made of appears to be much more long lasting than the neck gator.

The "drier" the cold, the better it performs, in my opinion.  Higher humidity in the air, seemed to lower its effectiveness as a water vapor barrier.

I wore this face mask in temperatures down 18°F (-7°C) so far, and it's done well enough for me to consider it part of my cold weather riding gear.

Review: NoNoise Motorsports Hearing Protectors

Rating: Great for blocking Wind Noise!

I recently had a chance to review a pair of NoNoise Hearing protectors which are distributed by TwistedThrottle.com.

Source: LINK

I'd read about them on a different motorcycling news site and had contacted them to ask for a review pair.
For the testing, I rode Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW motorcycle, with its minimalist (read non-existent) wind protection over several days to test these protector's ability to block wind noise.

I am happy to report these protectors do what they advertise, all wind noise was blocked to the point that I would just hear "gentle breeze" noises while riding at highway speeds on windy days.  It was quite the welcome relief, as the micro sonic booms one hears in one's helmet not only damage your hearing but make you tired at the end of a long day's worth of riding.

Comfort-wise, I was also pleased.  Though you do feel and know you've got earplugs in, they didn't hurt after several hours and were easy to remove.  Note, these ear plugs seat snugly and don't stick out at all from your ears.

The material used was soft with a slightly grippy texture which made them easy to use.

I could still hear my engine's noise though it was attenuated somewhat and normal traffic sounds such as vehicles coming up behind or to the side of me were easily discernible.  You can carry on a conversation but as with most ear plugs, I ended up asking the other person to speak up a little.

Still, wind noise is what I was seeking to block and these protectors deliver!  Other less expensive ear plugs also block wind noise but also block everything else in my experience.

For the product's press release, just click on the link below the picture for more information.

Review: Tourmaster's Synergy 2.0 Heated Gloves

This week, the folks at motorcyclehouse.com came through with my first item to be reviewed.  It was a pair of Tourmaster Synergy 2.0 Electrically Heated Textiles Gloves with a single heat controller.

Link to information on the gloves.

The fit of the gloves, always an iffy thing when ordering things online, was nice and snug; the way you'd want them to be when buying gloves.  Their sizing chart was accurate at least when it came to my hand size.

The gloves are made in the gauntlet style where they're designed to fit over the ends of your riding jacket sleeves.  The gloves even come with a waterproof  extension sleeve of sorts, extending from the end of textile gauntlet to prevent water from coming in via the gauntlet I think.

The gauntlet style at first caused me some issues as I am used to wearing gloves over which I can zip up the ends of my riding jacket's sleeves.  Once I got over that, all was well.

The wiring harness was easy to hook up to my motorcycle's battery and was color-coded and pretty straightforward for the most part.  It only required a brief glance at the accompanying user manual to figure things out and less than 30 minutes later, my motorcycle was wired up and ready.

The wire harness leading from the rheostat heat controller to the gloves is inserted into the sleeve's of one's riding jacket and I didn't find it too cumbersome, though I still loathe wires for the most part.  Note: These gloves, per the user manual, draw 24 watts of power.  There is a temperature sensor that keeps the glove's temperature consistent.

The gloves are also nicely lined with 40 grams of Thinsulate, and the website says the gloves have 100 grams of Polyfill, making them pretty warm gloves without the power being on.  The heat is provided by flexible steel fibers woven into the glove.

Some things I found out as I tried these gloves over several commutes:

1.  You have to remember to hook up the gloves BEFORE you put either one of them on.

2.  You have to remember to hook up the heat controller to the wires in your jacket and then to the red connector on the motorcycle AFTER you start the motorcycle, otherwise a power surge could damage the heating elements.

3.  Don't forget to unhook the heat controller from the motorcycle when you arrive at your destination or get off the motorcycle enroute.  If you forget, the connectors should come apart, preventing you pulling on the part of the harness that is hooked up to your battery, or worse, pulling the motorcycle itself!

source: LINK

Heating Capacity: B-

All the trial commutes were done on a '86 BMW Airhead R80 with no windshield or hand guards, the gloves fully exposed to the wind.  The alternator on this motorcycle puts out only 280 Watts.

In above freezing temperatures (my commutes never got warmer than 37°F and I didn't turn on the heat when temperatures were above 40°F on the way home from work.  

The gloves felt warm at first, and this was at their Max setting by the way.  They never really felt very hot and by the end of the 45 minute in above freezing wind chills, my hands and fingers were fine but starting to feel the cold slightly.  

In below freezing temperatures, the lowest temperature was 26°F during these trials, the gloves didn't do as well.  Given a wind chill factor that approached 5°F at times, the gloves kept my hands mildly warm at the beginning of the 45 minute commute but towards the end of the ride my hands were starting to get chilled; and my fingertips were beginning to tingle with the cold.

Grade for heat: B-.   I kind of expected the heat put out by the gloves at the max temperature setting to be uncomfortably hot and it never even got close.  Sure, without the heat they put out, my hands would have probably been icicles after only a few minutes but that was my experience.

Fit and Finish: A.

The textile material was nicely crafted and sewn together, nice snug fit and once I got used to the gauntlets, they went on just fine with minimal hassle.

The wiring/connectors are well put together, color-coded for easy identification of function and should be long enough for any type of motorcycle.  They connect together very snugly and securely, requiring a mild pull to pry them apart from each other.

The heat controller comes with a plastic clip to enable you to clip it onto your riding jacket for ease of use and to monitor the red LED that tells you the system is on.  The controller has six settings, with the first being off and sixth being max output.  I only used #6 when riding.  The manual says the gloves should have been putting out 163.4°F of heat, I didn't feel it.  

Some tests:

Using the motorcycle's onboard battery, engine NOT running, ambient temperature 58°F in garage.

Low after 5min 80°F
High after 5min 95°F

Using a 180 Amp Hour Marine Deep Cycle Battery:

Low after 5min 86°F
High after 5min 105°F

-----

Hooked up the system to my 2011 URAL Patrol sidecar rig with its 700 watt capacity alternator and went for a ride with the ambient outside temperature of 52°F.  Note: My URAL has a full windshield which  blocks most of the wind chill from the gloves.

Low after 5min 85°F
High after 5min 95-100°F (barely).  

This to me was evidence that the temperature sensor was indeed regulating the heat output as the manual states that in the High mode, temperatures can reach 163.4°F, but the sensor prevents that.  I am guessing here, but I don't think the sensor will permit the heat to exceed much above 100°F.

-----

The gloves came with a tag stating they used Rainguard technology, using a waterproof yet breathable barrier to keep a rider's hands dry.  To test this, I submerged my gloved right hand in water up to the wrist, for fifteen minutes, my hands remained dry.  Water was absorbed as I could wring it out of the glove, but the water didn't reach my hand.

-----

As stated before, I rode with the gloves turned on, in ambient temperatures well above freezing (52°F) and while my hands felt warm, they never overheated or sweated.  I guess that's proof that the waterproof barrier allows excess heat to exit, as claimed by the product literature.

-----

Overall, these gloves should be a nice option for folks who ride in mildly cold weather and don't mind dealing with wires while getting on and off their motorcycle.  Tourmaster, per the user manual, warranties their stuff with a limited warranty for three years.

Based on my personal experience, these gloves probably won't be enough when riding in below freezing temperatures for long periods of time, but then again, there's so few of us known to do this.  I'll add to this review next time there's snow riding to be done in sub-freezing temperatures while on the URAL sidecar rig.

Heated Grip Redundancy

Back in November, Steve Williams of ScooterintheSticks, blogged about a malfunction with his heated gloves and how things got cold really quick while riding.  LINK.

That same day, my own heated grips on my 2011 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig, Valencia, kept having the inline fuse blow due to a short in the cabling!  Karma?  Regardless, that night at home I found where the wiring had developed a bare spot in the insulation and that was that.

Today, while riding to work on my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom/Dauntless Sidecar Rig, the left hand grip was not generating any heat that I could feel.  The heater control had power so I knew it wasn't that perhaps.  I did notice the thing would not hold a heat setting, though the power LED remain lit the whole time.  That points to insufficient power according to the manufacturer's website.  I'm hoping perhaps a loose connection on the wires leading to the left grip, as the right grip remained pretty toasty.

Still, things got unpleasantly cold for my left hand's finger tips.  Now, with two failures in as many months, I think perhaps the motorcycling gods are trying to tell me something.  I just ordered from Aerostich some inexpensive heated grip wraps:

Source: Aerostich

These "temporary" grips will be my redundant heated grip option if/when my primary heated grips fail on any of my three motorcycles.  All three motorcycles have the SAE electrical connector pigtail wired directly to the battery for charging, so hooking it up should be easy enough.  These will travel in my "gloves bag" which gets transferred from motorcycle to motorcycle.

I picked these not only because its easy to move them between motorcycles, but a fellow Uralista uses them and he seems quite satisfied with them.  It's on/off in terms of heat but for a backup heated grip source, they'll do just fine I think.

Uraling in Alaska - Day 39: Waiting in Valdez, AK

The replacement parts for the PowerArc ignition system on Valencia are showing on the USPS site as having arrived in Anchorage at 9:21 AM this morning.  Guaranteed delivery by 3:00 PM tomorrow, God Willing and the creek don't rise!  This american colloquialism is quite apropo due to all the rain we've seen here in the Valdez area since Thursday.

Still, it could be worse, it could be snow!

The constant rain has presented an ideal testing environment for all the diagnostic work I've been doing to keep my mind occupied.  In all the riding on the test runs, my winter gloves have been water-soaked so today I bought these neoprene gloves:

Source: glacierglove.com

I bought the fishing version vice the bicycling version as the bicycling ones felt clumsier than the fishing ones.  I'll report on how these gloves do with my heated grips on Valencia, if and when I get her running again.

On that front, I called the PowerArc folks and tried a couple of diagnostics requested by them, neither action improved things, so I've managed to stump them as well.  Everyone is now hoping the new parts will do the trick.  I am to try swapping out the coil first, which is the major suspect by all I think.  Wish me luck!

During one of the test runs, I went over to the road that leads to Valdez's Container Ship Dock:

 Today is first day I've seen a hint of the mountains that supposedly surround

the bay on which Valdez is located.

On a different test run (Valencia runs OK for a short while before the rough-running symptoms evidence themselves), I stopped by the downtown dock area:

Valencia at the downtown dock

Valdez itself is a small tourist town, more pictures tomorrow if Valencia is up to it.  Luckily it is a small town, so I can cover most of the sights before having to limp on back to the inn.

Oh, and I tried wrapping the coil in a plastic bag (a great suggestion by RichardM) and went on a different test ride.  At first, things seemed to be good, no symptoms at the regular interval....was beginning to feel good about it then the symptoms returned with a vengeance!

Richard theorizes the bag caused the coil to overheat, causing a weak spark, which caused the engine to quit running several times as I limped back to the inn.  I ended up tearing off the plastic bag in order to make it all the way back!  So, as Richard says, it kind of points to the coil being the culprit in a way, as overheating it caused same type symptoms.  

Anyways, like I mentioned at first, the parts should be here tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed some snow storm doesn't cut off access by USPS to Valdez from Anchorage!

Oh, and Plan B in case the PowerArc replacements don't fix things?  Limp onto the ferry in Valdez and go to Whittier, from there be trailered to Anchorage which is 65 miles away and to the URAL dealer there, he's been given a "warning order" to prepare to reinstall the Ducati igntion onto Valencia.

Update: 8:25 PM, just met a rider from Washington State, his name is Brad and he rides a KLR650.  We had a nice little chat, he witnessed the sad running condition of Valencia's ignition.  It's good to have his company.

Safety Farkle - D3O Armor Pads

Farkle: Functional Sparkle, the nickname given to all sorts of usually shiny aftermarket parts/gadgets/add-ons to one's motorcycle in order to mold it into the image of one's ideal motorcycle.

Today, I was at a local motorcycle accessories store to pick up a Heidenau K37 Tire for Valencia, my 2011 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig.  This was the tire to replace the one I'd gotten a puncture in and which had been acting as my spare tire.

I now have new semi-aggressive knobby type tires all around and as a spare.  Bring on the snow!  Despite the teaser reports on the news shows however, no snow to speak of.  A few snowflakes here and there, some small ice particles but nothing that stuck or hung around for long.  Very disappointing, it ended up being just a gray and overcast kind of day.  Perfect for hanging about the motorcycle accessories store!

As I wandered about the store, while waiting for them to mount the new tire onto my spare wheel (only $20 to do this), I stumbled upon what I am calling safety farkle.

It's not shiny though it is bright orange.  The store was selling D3O Motorcycle Armor pads!  I'd first written about them back in September of 2007, now five years later, they were there right in front of me.  Bluekat about written about the D3O kneepads she'd gotten online, and I had briefly thought about buying the armor online but I wanted to look at it firsthand.

I picked up a pair of shoulder pads to supplement the armor that came with my Motoport Riding Jacket, perhaps next time I have a lowside at over 40mph and my shoulder is the first impact point, the D3O armor will prevent further separation of my AC Joint!

On the top, are the shoulder pads, the hip pads are below them.

The D3O shoulder pads went in just fine over the existing motoport armor pads.  No drama there.

However, the original plan for the hip pads had been to replace the rather wimpy pads Motoport had installed in my riding pants.  I'd never had much faith in the thin armor pad provided.  But, as I was to find out, there's a reason they're so thin.  Once I had the hip pads in place, the pants were much too tight around the lower hip area and I could not sit comfortably on the motorcycle.

So I ended up cutting the hip pads in half, using one half to bolster the exiting hip pad, locating the D30 armor more towards the rear to cover more of my hip, outer buttock area.  The remaining hip pad, I split in half and sewed it into place using lots of Kevlar thread to provide protection for my Coccyx or tailbone:

The new tailbone armor

You can see the semi-circular pockets to each side containing just the 

thin motoport hip pad armor on the half furthers away from the orange tailbone pads

and the half closest to the orange pads containing half of the other D3O hip pad on each side.

 So the search is over for me, the extra and more modern armor pads give me much more confidence in being protected if and when I ever have another accident.  

Firstgear's Customer Service

My first riding jacket was a Firstgear Kilimanjaro Air. I loved its fit, it's striking visibility pattern and how it kept me cool enough in hot weather and warm enough in cold weather riding.  I bought it the same day I bought my first motorcycle, a 2006 Honda Shadow 750 Aero, which I named: Gretl.

Four winters and five summers later, that Firstgear Jacket is still ready for the next ride, though it has been relegated to my backup riding jacket since I purchased the Motoport Kevlar Air Mesh riding jacket and pants.

However, a part of that Firstgear Jacket has always rode with me or on me during the cold riding months here in Colorado.  For you see, it came with a waterproof/insulated Tex-Mesh liner, which transfered easily for use under the Motorport jacket.  That liner was a key part of my warm layers which allowed me to ride in temperatures as low as -17°F this past winter.

I'd recently managed to lose that great jacket liner, probably worked its way out of the covered sidecar on one of my recent rides on Natasha, my Ural Sportsman sidecar rig.  I was quite bummed about it and had contacted Firstgear about purchasing a replacement as cold weather riding approaches again here in Colorado.

Through phone calls and emails exchanged (quite timely in terms of their response time by the way), they let me know that they no longer made or stocked the liner that came with my Kilimanjaro Air Riding Jacket.

But, all was not lost, they said they had available (from returned for repairs jackets) a size Large jacket liner that went with their new top of the line riding jacket: The Technical Performance Gear (TPG) Rainier Jacket!  They just offered it to me, no charge!  Now that's standing behind your product!

I sent them my address and today I took receipt of the above gorgeous looking jacket liner.  It's got a smooth tactile feel to the waterproof outside layer, is insulated, fits like a glove and feels great under my riding jackets!

I was so impressed with Firstgear's customer service, willingness to stand behind a product that was not even made anymore and concious effort to keep a past customer happy that I wrote this posting to let others know!  NOTE:  They didn't ask me to write this in exchange for the liner, I write this as a happy customer of Firstgear!

The Rainier Riding Jacket itself  looks to be quite an achievement in terms of rider comfort and protection also, check out it's specs here on the firstgear-usa website:  LINK   I believe it would give my existing Motoport Kevlar Jacket a run for the money in terms of key areas such as comfort and protection for a rider.  It's not inexpensive but then again, you really want to skimp on protecting yourself during a crash?

Cheap Comms

Took receipt of the GSI Rider to Rider/Passenger 2 Way Intercom System for Motorcycle today from Amazon.com.

I'd found it quite frustrating to communicate with my sidecar passengers on occasion and figured at less than $35, this was worth a shot to see if I could easily talk with my "monkey" while riding Natasha, my Ural Sidecar Rig.

picture source: amazon.com

Link to product description on Amazon.com

Installation was easy, just work the helmet liner piece out of the way, slip the speakers into the pocket where your ear goes, put the liner pieces back in place and do some testing.

It's powered by a couple of AAA batteries so I we'll see how long they last.  It didn't come with any instructions but some testing later I figured out what dial did what and such.  Each setup comes with it's own volume control, and I ended up setting both to high.

Miles, my #2 son and I went out for a short test ride on Natasha and the system did very well at low speeds, performance was a bit degraded at higher speeds like over 40 mph due to wind noise activating the mike, will have to play with what I believe is the "squelch" function on the control unit to account for increased wind noise.

Still, my son and I had a pleasant conversation about school and work as we cruised about the neighborhood and along Smoky Hill Road which is quite a busy road most of the time.

Initial impressions, I've got comms, now to see how long it lasts.

Update: This setup didn't last long for me.  I no longer use it mainly due to volume issues and mediocre performance.

Carrying spare gas on the Ural?

Recent rides with the boys and with James of the PBTF ride have led me to rethink the cargo area usage within the sidecar.  Once you've a passenger, things you normally carried within the sidecar need to find someplace else go to!

Typically, the normal Ural Sidecar Rig owner mounts his/her spare gas can in the OEM gas can and carrier which typically gets mounted on the left rear side of their sidecar.

Ural Sahara model

Another spot Uralisti mount the gas can is to the right or left of the sidecar's nose

photo source: sovietsteeds.com

I don't have the option anymore of mounting it in the same spot as the first picture, there's battery cables emanating from the sidecar since I run a Total Loss Electrical System, and I didn't like the looks of the rig with the gas can up front.

I'd been shopping online for a version of a fender rack similar to the one sold by Ural but which is rather expensive and hard to find in black (no, I don't want the chrome version).

Rear Fender Rack from Ural

photo source IMWA

 The thought had been to mount the rack and use it as an anchor point for my Kolpin Gas Can carrier I'd bought for the 1150RT way back.  Well, now Maria is gone and I'd been carrying the Kolpin gas can inside the sidecar rig as I rarely had a passenger with me.

As I was looking at Natasha today after work, it suddenly dawned on me that since the Ural spare tire cargo rack (see above pics) is mounted using the locking hub that holds the spare tire onto the sidecar's spare tire mounting point; why not do the same with the Kolpin Gas Can carrier?

A one inch hole drilled into the metal carrier and voila, it was nice and secured onto the top of the spare wheel:

I will try the above setup during this weekend's riding and see how it all works out.  I may change the orientation of the carrier so the gas can is closer to the right side of the sidecar, so if gas spills it has no chance of hitting the hot exhaust pipe on the right side of the tug.  I'll probably also orient the can so the spout it to the rear of the sidecar as well.

The Kolpin Gas Carrier is designed primarily for the rough and tumble ride of an ATV so I figure it's secure enough for my purposes.  My only concern is the strength of the spare wheel securing hardware, I guess I'll find out!